This was on Saturday evening at the club. It was a nicely organised affair, arranged by Karlo's father, Leo Kuret. A number of VIP's such as the mayor of Split, the Admiral of the Croatian Navy made speeches. With neither the IFA President nor either of the Vice presidents present, it fell upon your Executive Director to give a speech on behalf of the class.

The following morning Race Officer, Ivo Scuric, led the skippers meeting. In consultation with IFA, it was agreed that if the racing was unfair due to the weather, Ivo could call it off anytime. Ivo also told the fleet that the bow numbers had to be placed no more than 10 cm from the stem and from the top. Unfortunately everyone had already put their stickers on after being told by the race office that it didn't really matter where they put them. Needless to say, most people didn't put them 10 cm from the bow or the deck. Everyone had to take the stickers off again and put them in the correct places: tears & bubbles were the result, but the race officer promised that whoever lost or damaged the stickers as a result of moving them could have new ones!

Race 1 - 1978 Champion Minsky Fabris Wins

This had to be postponed due to lack of wind. "It's not normally like this" was the first comment heard and everyone just smiled. Where had we heard THAT before? The postponement flag eventually went down at 3.30 pm and everyone went out.

Imagine a 57-year-old Croatian, a Finn hero of the seventies, winning the first race of the 1997 Finn Europeans in his home town of Split, Croatia. People jump in the water at finish, fireworks start to happen, and the whole race committee is ecstatic. Minski Fabris came 2nd at the Europeans in Turkey and he won the Europeans in 1978. Minski competed in the 1976 Olympic Games in Kingston (13th) and in the 1980 Olympics in Tallinn (11th).

There were many place changes, because the conditions were tricky. Luca Devoti had it all figured out and finished 2nd and fellow Italian Walter Riosa came third. Mateusz Kusznierewicz finished 5th, and Sebbe Godefroid was 9th. The best junior was Rafal Szukiel, who finished an excellent 8th overall. Manolis Marsellos, who finished 3rd in the Junior Europeans last year, was the 2nd junior with an 11th place overall.

Race 2 - 1996 Silver Medalist Takes Race

Yet another postponement, but this time the race officer decided to send the fleet out as soon as he thought the wind would fill in. Xavier Rohart and Sebastien Godefroid started pretty far left, but consolidated by sailing on the rhumb line. After a 20-minute beat they got to the first windward mark in 1st and 6th position. In between were Michael Maier, Mateusz Kusznierewicz, Henrique Anjos and home town hopeful Karlo Kuret.

On the first reach Mateusz briefly overtook Michael at the gybe mark. Sebbe was now in 4th, while Hans Spitzauer had moved up to 5th. At the leeward mark the top four had not changed but had created a little gap between themselves and the pack led by Hansi Spitzauer. The first part of the second beat showed some major changes, when Xavier lost the lead. Said his coach Daniel Dahon: "He started to worry about lack of boat speed and forgot to look around him. Then he missed some shifts." It took Xavier from 1st to 4th in 200 metres. Sebbe Godefroid took over the lead straightaway. By the 2nd windward mark Michael Maier and Sebbe were 1st and 2nd. Mateusz was now in third, but got penalised by the jury for pumping at the end of the run. Sebbe wasn't about to make a mistake on the final beat. He won the race followed by Michael. Karlo Kuret gained 5 places on the last leg and finished 3rd, with Xavier right behind him. Juri Tokovoi sailed a good final leg, too and finished 5th.

Race 3 - A First Win for Emilios

Held in about 10-15 knots, the first beat proved that the way to go was right and that Emilios Papathanassiou was the man to beat. He rounded the first mark in first place, closely followed by Richard Stenhouse. Stenhouse was motivated - frustrated after a 38th and a 17th, he was ready for a good one. Richard, Mateusz, Emilios and Karlo kept changing places, with Richard leading on the second beat and the run. Emilios eventually led from Richard at the last bottom mark after a spectacular run with beautiful waves. Richard would have been able to give Emilios a harder run for his money if his halyard hadn't unclipped in the final beat. Amazingly, he hung onto 2nd place! Meanwhile, Xavier Rohart climbed from 9th to finish a very rewarding third. Best junior was Manolis Marselos in 19th place. He leads the Juniors from Polish Rafal Szukiel by 31 points.

Race 4 - Luca Wins Race On The Final Shift

At the start the fleet immediately split. Most of the favourites went left, but Luca Devoti, who had started at the race committee boat end, went hard right and rounded in 2nd place. In front of him was Chic Parsons. Third around the mark was Paul McKenzie and then Michele Marchesini and Walter Riosa went round. Said Juri Saraskin: "this looks like the Open Italian Championship!" Both Paul and Luca passed Chic on the 2nd reach but by the bottom mark Luca was leading. Luca did a nice job controlling the leading group. Paul was right on his tail. Michele rounded in 3rd place. Emilios lost 4 places after tacking too close to Sebbe and politely did turns. Paul overtook Luca on the run and the wind picked up and went left. With a 6-second lead Paul tried to cover Luca, and then.... after a bit of match racing close to the finishing line, Paul let Luca go to his right maybe 30 metres. "If Luca now gets a right shift and points high he can make the line...! Luca got the shift, pointed his bow up and piped Paul to the post. What a finish after a two-hour battle.

It was a day when experience mattered, and it was not surprising therefore that the Juniors had a tough day of it. Best placed junior was Russian Vladislav Aleinikov in 26th place, followed by Rafal Szukiel in 29th, Henrique Anjos in 30th and Ali Enver Adakan in 31st.

Race 5 - Another win for Emilios

Race 5 started with the wind coming from a completely new direction, south east at 10-12 knots. It was Emilios Papathanassiou who reached the top mark first and even though he lost the lead to Ukrainian Igor Tkachuk on the first reach, he managed to regain it at the last bottom mark, and so it was Emilios who was the very happy winner of Race 5. Igor Tkachuk had his best result, finishing 2nd.

Most of the top seeds managed to have good results, keeping them in the running. Xavier Rohart finished 3rd, and Luca Devoti 4th. Spitzauer, who went around the first mark in 22nd place, fought his way back in excellent style, eventually finishing 6th. Sebbe Godefroid, too, did well to salvage a 7th after coming to the top mark in 15th place. All in all, a terrific race that took the leaders 1 hour and 40 minutes to complete.

Race 6 - Last race to Xavier

Race Officer Ivo Scuric gave the fleet half an hour to recuperate before he called them to the start again. The starting line was set up more or less where the previous race had finished, which saved everybody a lot of time. Luca was now leading overall with Emilios second. The wind had built up to 12-15 knots. In the choppy weather it was Spanish Rafael Trujillo who led the fleet around the first mark, closely observed by his coach, none other than Jose Maria van der Ploeg, the reigning champion (for one more day!).

Rafael could not hang on to first place, but succeeded in finishing a very creditable fourth. By the time they reached the gybe mark heavy-weather sailor Xavier Rohart was leading and he held onto it to the finish. Xavier had a very good day, which put him in 2nd place overall. Sebbe Godefroid finished 2nd, Michael Maier was 3rd and Mateusz, after the disappointment of an OCS in the morning, was strong enough mentally to bounce back and finish in 5th place.

After 6 races, Luca Devoti was leading by 6 points over Xavier Rohart, another experienced Finnster, but who has yet to win a title. In joint 3rd place were Emilios Papathanassiou and Sebbe Godefroid.

The junior results show that Greek Manolis Marselos was still leading. His fellow countryman George Kodogeuris is in 2nd place, but that place was not safe, as Polish Rafael Ezukiel was only 7 points behind. Clearly the Juniors were having their own battle in the middle of the fleet, but that makes their achievement all the mere remarkable. They manage to keep an eye on each other and know exactly where the competition is. It is not easy to fight for a championship when the big guys are in your way all the time! At the same time it is also great experience for them to sail in such a big fleet, and to sail against the top guys.

The Final Day - No Race but...

Imagine a day without sailing but full of excitement nevertheless

The Finn class spent a whole morning waiting for wind. knowing that if there was no start by 3 pm, all would be over. The Race Committee was looking for wind. Luca Devoti was jumping up and down and pacing the boat park, but god of the wind Aeolus was his independent self and did not arrive. The Race Committee knew that if they had no wind by 1.30 PM they would have to cancel racing, and they tried their best to make it happen. They decided very wisely however that there was not enough wind to send the fleet out, and reasoning that no race was much better than a Mickey Mouse race they fired the guns and ended the regatta.

That was the sign for the Finn fleet to start looking for Luca Devoti. On the way to find Luca, they ran into brand new Junior Champion Manolis Marselos, so he was thrown into the water no more than 3 minutes after the race committee decision. Meanwhile everybody joined in the search for Luca, with cameras, champagne bottles and some big Finn sailors to make sure Luca did not escape without a bath.

He was found in the waterfront restaurant and the rest was easy. When Luca came out of the water and got sprayed by champagne, the whole fleet was there to cheer and applaud him. It was a terrific moment for Luca, but also for all the sailors and organisers, the event had a very worthy champion. At age 34. with an Olympic regatta and many, many Finn European and World Championships behind him, Luca had finally done it; he was the 1997 Finn European Champion!

Being interviewed by Croatian television, Luca said that the championship had been very well organised, that he really loved Split and that he would like to come back. Luca, who said at the opening ceremony press conference that after a 7th, a 3rd and a 2nd, he was now going for gold, still feels that there is more out there for him: "Let's face it. In 15 years of Finn sailing. I have never won a regatta outside Italy or Croatia.

It is easy to forget the juniors in the hype of the big boys' event. They had a terrific battle going on, though, which is much harder, not just physically, but particularly mentally than most people realise. They see the big guys in front of them every race, and know they have a long way to go, yet hang in there and continue to do battle. There are so many new young guys in the class now that they have started to ask for a Junior World Championship.